World leaders pledge to end poverty at Davos. At least when The End Of Poverty? partners with the YesMen on a diabolically clever Davos action! Close examination of the fake website and video manipulations reveals outrageous, elaborate subterfuge.

A divided Supreme Court on Thursday swept away decades of legislative efforts to restrict the role of corporations in election campaigns, ruling that severe restrictions on corporate spending are inconsistent with the First Amendment’s protection of political speech.

When the Vancouver Olympics open in February, activists plan to stage their own “Poverty Olympics” to put the spotlight on social problems in the city’s notorious Downtown Eastside neighborhood. While local officials say the games will help revitalize the neighborhood, critics say $6 billion in Olympics-related spending has yielded scant benefits for the poor.

Two different stories on All Africa today pose two very different assumptions on the economy in Nigeria. Dr. Magnus Kpakol head of the poverty reduction program for the government of Nigeria says that the poverty rate is falling. However, the head economist at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Dr. Mike Duru says that the poverty rate is rising.

Haiti’s humanitarian disaster has rightfully elicited an outpouring of support from around the world. But the tragedy should also elicit outrage because the massive destruction, suffering and loss of life were largely avoidable.

Natural disasters, such as hurricanes and floods that have regularly afflicted Haiti, have plagued mankind throughout history. As the world has become wealthier, the ability to cope with such calamities has grown; annual deaths due to such disasters have declined by 96 percent since the 1920s.

There is a great risk that one of the largest relief operations in history will be similar in nature to the tsunami relief efforts in 2004, unless a radically different approach to a reconstruction model is adopted. Haiti was partially destroyed by an earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale. We have all shed tears and the media, as they bombard us with apocalyptic images, report on financial pledges generous States have made. We know that Haiti needs to be rebuilt, this country hard-hit by poverty and “its curse”. Therefore, at the moment, the focus is on Haiti. Comments fail to look beyond the terrible earthquake. We are told that it is one of the poorest countries in the world without any explanations provided. We are led to believe that poverty just happened, that it is a situation beyond remedy: “Haiti is an accursed land”.

Our last full day in Cambodia has been one of mixed emotions.  So much has been accomplished these last few weeks and yet I feel I am leaving with tasks undone.  Wonderful connections with a variety of different organizations have come to fruition.  The scope and mission of Safe Haven has become more refined and defined and I am anxious to more forward.  Two years in not a long period of time in which to build a handicap school, staff it and be ready to open our doors but two …

Pierre, Roman and Soloth pull up in a van they have engaged to take us out to the village of Smatch and a neighboring village for both handicap assessment of CP children there and to see the work being done by CFI on the mosquito net factory.  Hasan and Lauren are already comfortable in their seats and Hasan, God love him, has brought bags of freshly baked chocolate croissants for the 2 hour drive.  Cher, Lina and I pile in and we have exactly 45 minutes of smooth sailing before …

I’ve just come back into my hotel room jacked up like Cher on a 12 pack of Mountain Dew.  It’s been a great morning.  Normally, I take my Cambodian kids out shopping together for new clothes and lunch but I’ve decided this trip to focus more on spending time together and less on “presents.”  The change of venue thrills the boys, for whom shopping with the girls is its own form of slow torture.  Instead, we head to a nearby boutique villa for a morning of swimming in the pool.  …

Reporting from Chicago – After he fled Sudan’s civil war as a child in the 1980s, Garang Mayuol knew in his heart that he would return.
In 2001, he was among about 3,800 young Sudanese men, known as the “Lost Boys,” who were settled in the United States. From refugees to American …